Video: Rediscover Silay

The Rediscover Silay is a 40-minute video project of Silay Tourism Office as one of the highlights for the Al Cinco de Noviembre celebration. Know more about this genteel town and its important role in the history of Negros.

This video documentary is another excellent work of Leo Vision Multimedia. I have worked once with a project with Leo Vision and I can attest to their dedication to their craft and the quality of their works. Congrats Gary Lake for another job well done!

Rediscover Silay from Gary Lake Liza/Leo Vision on Vimeo.

No More Logging in the Northern Negros Natural Park

The remaining 16,487 hectares of forest cover at the Northern Negros Natural Park are nor protected from commercial logging with Republic Act 3680 imposing a logging ban in the 3rd District of Negros Occiental which comprise the cities of Silay, Talisay and Victorias and two municipalities, E.B. Magalona and Murcia.

President Arroyo signed into law last November 3 House Bill 3680 known as “An Act Imposing a Logging Ban in the Third District of the Province of Negros Occidental” which was authored by Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson seeks to prohibit the cutting down of trees for commercial purposes.

The Northern Negros Natural Park is Negros Occidental’s major watershed area where rare flora and fauna species can be found such as hornbill, bleeding heart pigeon, Visayan warty pig and Philippine spotted deer. Mambukal Resort in Murcia and Gawahon Eco-Park in Victorias City are located inside the Northern Negros Natural Park.

El Ideal Bakery: Serving Good Food Since the 1920s

Silay City in Negros Occidental is famous for mansions and good food. El Ideal Bakery is both. Housed in a National Heritage Site, El Ideal is also famous for its heritage recipes which it has served since the 1920s.

El Ideal is more than just a bakery, it’s an institution, a cultural heritage, a story entirely on its own. El Ideal Bakery was established in the 1920’s by the late Cesar Lacson Losin and his sisters.  Some recipes served today were served years ago. In the late 1950’s, he handed down El Ideal to his daughter, Mrs. Alice Locsin-Villanueva. She added a refreshment parlor to the bakery and another brick oven. Currently, El Ideal is managed by Maritess Villanueva-Sanchez and husband Enrique Sanchez.

El Ideal is famous for classic Ilonggo cookies and biscuits such as quinamoncil, sinambag, biscocho principe, broas, favorita, lubid-lubid, quinihad, etc.

More recently, it became famous for guapple pie which has become its trademark product. You haven’t been to El Ideal if you haven’t tried their guapple pie which is even ordered and sent to Manila and as far as the U.S. for pasalubong.

With the opening of the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, El Ideal has become very accessible to travelers. El Ideal is located at Rizal St. a block away from Silay City Public Plaza.

When you visit El Ideal, take home with you some of the best delicacies you’ll find in Negros. And remember, you are also bringing home a piece of Negrense history.

Photos courtesy of El Ideal

Seafood Restos at Brgy. Balaring, Silay City

(Guest post by The Absentee Negrense)

Balaring, a small barangay in Silay City, is one of our family’s frequent lunchtime destination. We usually go here after the Sunday morning mass especially when the weather is breezy and the skies are clear.

Hectares of sugarcane plantations hide rows of seaside restaurants such as this. (Tama Plaza, the largest among them)

They offer mostly seafood dishes in their menu, with an exception for ’staples’ like porkchop. (Which I usually order, to counterbalance the mostly seafood meal.)

For starters, we almost always get a mini-basin of “talaba” (local oysters) which my father likes.

My sister’s fave is the buttered squid.

Since my mother likes to have her shrimps, veggies, and “sabaw” (soup), what can be more perfect than the “sinigang nga hipon” (shrimp in sour-based soup).

My brother likes the boneless bangus.

Here’s the porkchop, I mentioned earlier.

Sili and calamansi with sinamak and toyo is the perfect all-around sawsawan.

Here’s how to get to there:

(Brgy. Balaring, Silay City, Negros Occidental)

From Bacolod, take the National Highway going north. Right after the Silay City proper, turn left at the Dona Teresita Jalandoni Provincial hospital. You will see a number of “Brgy. Balaring” signs, just follow them until you see rows of bamboo restaurants by the sea.

Enjoy Negros!

Tama Plaza Contact Numbers:

Tel. No. (034) 495-1669
Cell. No.: (0921)3977314

The Day Negros Bluffed Its Way To Freedom

Today, Negrenses celebrate the 110th anniversary of Al Cinco de Noviembre to commemorate the Negrenses’ uprising against the colonizers on November 5, 1898. The uprising led to the surrender of the Spanish troops in the province and the establishment of the short-lived Cantonal Government of Negros reuniting Negros Occidental and Oriental.

Led by Gen. Juan Araneta from Bago and Gen. Aniceto Lacson from Silay, the rebels marched mostly sugarcane workers, marched towards Bacolod armed only with farm implements. The revolutionaries augmented their lightly-armed men with fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. Seeing the troops, the Spanish Governor Isidro de Castro surrendered.

The revolutionaries were gallant enough to let the Spanish save face by letting them sign a capitulation that Spanish forces surrendered only after a breath-taking hand-to-hand combat, that, they “fought valiantly and killed many”.

Cinco de Noviembre played a significant role in the history of Negros since it was the day that hacienderos and sugarcane workers fought together in battle. Its commemoration is not only to honor Generals Lacson and Araneta but also the countless sugar workers who remain nameless but are heroes just the same. Through the celebration of Al Cinco de Noviembre, may the ideals of those heroes remain steadfast in the hearts of the Negrenses.

Photo Credit: Negros Occidental Website

Welcome to Bacolod, City of the World

Last October 1, no less than the Philippine President Gloria Arroyo officially opened the 29th MassKara Festival. It was a historic event since it was the first in the 29 years of MassKara Festival that a Philippine President graced the occasion.

This year’s theme is “Bacolod, City of the World” truly reflects the recent wave of developments in the city making it a major destination both for leisure and business. President Arroyo herself was very bullish for Bacolod citing it as a major tourism and call center destination inher speech during the MassKara Festival Opening.

To further boost economic growth and tourism in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, President Arroyo led the groundbreaking rites for the construction of a P1.5 billion, 10.12-kilometer access road from Bacolod City to the New Silay-Bacolod Airport in SIlay City. Motorists will be able to save 20 minutes of travel time using the access road compared when traveling via the coastal road. She has likewise directed DPWH  Undersecretary Rafael Yabut to release P200 million to start the construction of the access road.

The President likewise inaugurated the Convergys contact center. The 6,000-square meter facility is located at One SanParq Square and currently employees 700 and is expected to increase to a thousand by the end of 2008. Convergys is just one of several BPO locators in Bacolod, which include Teletech and Teleperformance to name two of the major players.

More investments are expected for Bacolod City with these recent developments. Indeed, Bacolod is a city that is ready for the world and welcome those who wish to visit. For business or leisure, Bacolod has it.

Watch the 29th Masskara Festival Opening Ceremony speech of President Arroyo.

Photos by Tony Manso

7 Negros Occidental Cities Ready to Streamline Business Licensing System

Seven cities in Negros Occidental yesterday forged a Memorandum of Understanding with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) for the implementation of Streamlining Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) Project.  This project is aimed at upgrading their business permits and licensing issuance system, a common backlog in starting a business.

Volker Steigerwald, Visayas coordinator of GTZ-SMEDSEP, said that after piloting the project in Bacolod City and Ormoc City , they are now ready to replicate it in other parts of the Visayas. The cities of Bago, Cadiz, Kabankalan, Sagay, San Carlos, Silay, and Talisay will replicated the Business Permits and Licensing System which has been proven to considerably cut the processing time for business licensing.

Present at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding were Mayors Jose Montelibano of Silay, Alfredo Marañon of Sagay, Eugenio Jose Lacson of San Carlos, Pedro Zayco of Talisay and Salvador Escalante who were the signatories in behalf of their respective LGUs. Bago Mayor Ramon Torres and Talisay Vice Mayor Neil Lizares, who was supposed to represent Mayor Eric Saratan, failed to come.

GTZ will provide technical assistance through capacity building by training the LGU personnel. The local government on their part will assign a focal person who will work closely with DTI and GTZ in the implementation of the BPLS Project.